A distraught father told an inquest he believed his son had turned to heroin after becoming hooked on performance enhancing steroids.

Amateur bodybuilder Ian Karl Jens Barlow, from Oakridge Road, Basingstoke was found dead by his parents on September 27 having overdosed on the class A drug.

North Hampshire coroner Andrew Bradley recorded a verdict of accidental death at Alton Magistrates Court earlier this month.

Ian’s father Karl told the inquest that he had become increadingly concerned over his son’s wellbeing around 10 years ago when the 33-year-old started taking steroids to fuel his bodybuilding.

He said he had taken him to drug rehabilitation in a bid to wean his son off the substances. “I did try to warn him off steroids in the beginning,” he said. “It did not work so I took him to the Priory - that was a waste of time.”

When asked by Mr Bradley when his son’s heroin habit started, he said it was during his time lifting weights.

“It just started when he was doing bodybuilding and weight lifting,” Mr Barlow said. “A lot of his friends had gone the same way.”

Mr Barlow said that Ian had moved back to the family home following the break-up of a previous relationship.

The father told the inquest that the night before his son’s death “everything was normal”. The next day, Mr Barlow and his wife had left to go shopping. When they returned at 5pm, Ian’s curtains were still drawn.

After entering his room, Ian was pale and unresponsive.

He was lying with a syringe still in his right arm, and a bandage covering his left palm.

PC Richard Right, from Basingstoke police station, said at the inquest said the death was not suspicious.

In recording the verdict of accidental death Mr Bradley said: “There are no thoughts that he was trying to kill himself.

“It is a horrible overdose situation, but that is the risk you run with drug use.”